


Igby Goes Down.

by yourshadow (sinistra_blache)



Series: Movie Night [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Igby Goes Down (2002)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen, The Doctor and the Master are bad at watching movies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-12
Updated: 2012-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-29 10:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/318795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinistra_blache/pseuds/yourshadow





	Igby Goes Down.

__

You see, I have this...  
I feel this...  
Great, great pressure  
Coming down on me.  
It's crushing me.

**Igby Goes Down.**

 

They didn't talk while they watched the movie and neither of them remembered who suggested it. They laughed dutifully (even the Master) at the overly-articulated jokes. The Doctor smiled during the cute, awkward, very human flirting scenes. The Master barked enjoyment while Kieran Culkin was beaten to a pulp by Jeff Goldbloom.

The Master didn't finish watching it, however. He left calmly, and without a word, as soon as the Doctor failed to stop one tear from falling. He didn't mock him, which the Doctor found almost unsettling. He just left. The Doctor watched the rest of the movie alone. He found the Master in the kitchen, legs crossed and sipping black tea.

"Why did you leave? They played 'Take a load off, Annie' during the credits. Do you know that song? I bet you'd love that song. What's with this regen and music, anyway?" the Doctor turned him back on him to make tea for himself. The kettle was still hot. "You're always dancing, you never danced before. What's with that?"

Stirring the four sugars into his tea, the Doctor turned to face the Master with his best 'go on, tease me, I dare you' smile. He was answered by a slight raising of eyebrows and a very controlled tea-sip, but no real answer. Maybe it was the effect the movie had on him, but the Doctor felt like pushing his luck tonight. Today. Whenever.

"What I'm saying is, you didn't even dance when we were younger. D'you remember those awful dances they put on every so often? 'You must socialize!' like they were so good at it. You never went to one of them. You hated dancing," the Doctor swung back and forth on the balls of his feet. "But you were Mr Twinkle Toes on the Valiant. What happened?"

The Master coughed and took another sip of his tea, regarded it and swirled the dregs of what's left in his mug.

"Cold?" offered the Doctor.

"Why did you cry when you did, Doctor?" the Master said suddenly. His voice was so clear, bouncing off the walls in the small-ish kitchen the TARDIS decided they needed today. Tonight. Whenever.

"I don't know. Which scene was it? And I didn't cry. I wept, in a manly way, because the movie made me feel manly emotions. See, what I was doing, Master, was expressing my feelings in a very healthy way."

"In a very poncey way," he corrected.

"Healthy. And least I didn't storm out."

"I stormed nowhere. The movie was boring me and I wasn't about to sit there while you blubbered."

"Okay, fine, maybe there wasn't so much storming. But you left. Can't have been just because I squeezed a tear out during an emotional scene. Why did you leave?"

"It was more because I can't stand that ever-so righteous face you pull when you're 'weeping in a manly way'. Like you deserve the breakdown, like you've earned it," he finished his tea, slurping loudly. "I mean, it's funny the first few times, maybe, and then it becomes really annoying."

"Which scene?" the Doctor put his tea down.

"What?"

"Which scene did you leave during?"

The Master's eyebrows raised a little higher and he waited.

"Fine. Which scene did I cry to?"

"You don't remember? Honestly? No, nevermind. You wouldn't tell me anyway."

"What does that mean?" the Doctor puffed his chest out indignantly. The Master laughed mirthlessly.

"You were always the liar, Doctor. Not me," he flashed him that smile, his politician smile, stood up and put his empty mug into the sink. He had to push past the Doctor to reach the sink. This close, the Doctor noticed for the first time how tired he looked. He still held himself in that ever-ready stance, like he was about to bolt for the door yet at the same time completely comfortable with never moving from the spot in which he stood. His face still held a ghost of that smile, still showed no trace of his true age. But his eyes were so tired. Jaded. The Doctor wondered if he looked like that.

The Master caught the look the Doctor was giving him. He sighed. "...'they are rigid and they are cold. And you don't know. They are cold, cold, cold to the fucking bone.'" He recited the lines as though he knew them by hearts. He spoke in a low, even, deadpan voice, not with a hint of the anger that the Doctor had become used to. "That's when you broke. That's when I left."

He found himself speechless and gaping at the Master's venomless smile.

"Goodnight, Doctor."


End file.
